"We don't like how he does things either, but what harm is there in his behavior? It's just words."
Oh, brothers and sisters. Lies have consequences. For instance, if someone tells you over and over that you don't need your knee brace (or medication) and that using it is a sign that you are weak and are living in fear, and you believe them because of how many times they say it, and you stop using it and you fall down the stairs (or have a mental or physical breakdown), those lies have consequences for you and for others.
Or if they tell you the same thing about masks, and you refuse to wear one, and you get Covid-19 and you give it to your wife (and possibly others) and cause unnecessary suffering that could have been prevented if you hadn't believed the lies, those lies have consequences for you and for others.
There is nothing holy about causing unnecessary suffering. Nothing.
There is nothing redemptive in causing another person unneeded pain and misery. Nothing.
Can God bring good things out of any sins we commit as individuals and communities. Absolutely.
Does that mean we should sin more? Absolutely NOT.
If you believe that you stand for the truth, you need to speak up on behalf of the truth no matter who tells the lies. And if you can stop people from hearing the lies again and again (because we know that people believe things they hear repeated enough times), you should try.
But the thing is, lies have consequences, so even if you try, you will be fighting your brothers and sisters who have believed the lies, who have embraced the lies with so much ardor they are unable to see they are being deceived, unable to see how the lies are harming them, are harming you, are harming your neighbors and the communities you live in.
And when they say about the lies they believe, "They're only words; they don't matter," you will see how the lies are harming them, and you will not be able to do anything to help them see the truth but pray to the Source of all Truth to deliver them from their bondage to the lies.
And they may do the same, pitying you for listening to the experts God has set around you for such a time as this while they listen to the lies of people speaking out of self-interest. They will pity you for trusting evidence over repetition of lies. They will pity you for not doubting things they never doubted until they were told over and over that they suddenly needed to because it benefited the liar for them to believe his lies.
